Maris Stella, Sumana Balika schools athletic champions

Yasaratne Gamage and Jagath Gunawardena

Maris Stella College, Negombo of Western Province emerged boys champions while Sumana Balika MV Ratnapura of Sagaragamuwa Province grabbed the girls championship at the All Island Schools Athletic Championships 2011 concluded at Mahinda Rajapaksa International Sports Complex yesterday.

The Western Province emerged overall champions by collecting 728 points while Central Province (441 points) and Wayamba Province (359 points) finished in the second and third slots respectively.

The meet saw 24 new meet records being set up with one equalizer. Milan Dhanushka Dissanayake of Rajasinghe Central College, Hanwella was adjudged the best athlete while Nadeeshani Henderson brought merits to Gateway International School when she emerging the best girl athlete.Milan Dhanushka set up a new meet record in the boys under 19 high jump when he cleared 2.15 metres while Henderson erased her own record which she set up in the semi finals on the third day by finishing the under 19 girls 400 metres in 55.76 seconds.Lyceum College, Wattala erased the previous record held by St. Benedict’s College in the under 17 boys 4x400m relay when they clocked 3 minutes 29.34 seconds.St. Josephs’ Girls’ College, Kegalle were also successful in entering their school’s name in the record books, finishing the under 19 girls 4x400m relay 3 minutes 57.44 seconds.

Arosha Kariyawasam of Ananda College, Colombo entered the record book when he finished under 15 boys’ 100 metres in 11.44 seconds.In the boys 110 metres hurdles, J N Randeniya of Ranabima Royal College, Gannoruwa bettered his own timing with an impressive 14. 34 second run. This was an outstanding feat by the young athlete who shattered the longstanding schools record of Mahesh Perera with a time of 14.41 seconds in the second day of the meet.

The under 15 boys’ and girls’ 4x400m events were introduced to the championship from this year. Maris Stella College, Negombo finished the boys 4x400m event in 3 minutes 41.89 seconds to win the event while St. Joseph’s Girls College, Kegalle clocked 4 minutes 16.77 seconds to win the championship’s newly introduced event.

The awards ceremony was held under the patronage of Prime Minister D M Jayaratne. Education minister Bandula Gunawardena, Western Province education minister Upali Kodikara and several officials were also present.